Happy Easter...a personal update!

Hello, friends!

Just dropping by to let you know I’m thinking of you right now. How are you doing with your ‘shelter in place’ and with all the changes in your part of the world?

If there’s sadness and loss, I’m sorry. Here in Australia, we seem to be doing a little better and I’m so grateful that our family is fine.

For anyone who misses the weekly encouragement from me, I’m blogging twice a week over at Love Our Age. You’re so welcome to join me! (That’s www.loveourage.com)

Since January, I’ve been writing about happiness and mindset, ways to celebrate and lovely things.

Readers’ Favourite posts so far:

• Why we should call ourselves beginners

• The little list of what you CAN control

• A quick and easy beauty hack

• Delicious raw gf df brownies

• The crazy idea that made me start Love Our Age

Today I shared my Easter cinnamon buns! Take a peek below. You’re so welcome to the recipe.

If you’ve missed me, come along on my new adventure.

I hope you and yours are well. Sending love from Sydney.

Love, Catherine x

How To Make An Apple Pie

In our family, apple pie equals Love.

And it always signals that it’s time for a Family Meeting. I started this tradition years ago: if we had something to discuss as a family, we did it on a Sunday night with an apple pie and a pot of tea (mostly made of hot milk and honey when the boys were little).

For me, for some reason, traditions like ‘Family Meeting and Apple Pie’ are hugely important. When we became immigrants 23 years ago, I wanted some way to feel at home. Rituals and traditions helped me feel grounded.

So, pie.

In Australia, most pies are savoury: beef, steak and mushroom, chicken. In Canada, all pies are sweet: pumpkin, apple, peach, Saskatoon berry, ‘bumbleberry.’ For our family, old fashioned apple pie brings a little bit of Canada into Sydney.

Here’s how I make mine. I kind of shocked myself to realise that, after years of practice, I can make a pie in under twenty minutes. I’ve been making apple pies for 34 years, since I was a teenager.

You’ll need 6-8 apples, butter, plain flour, white sugar and cinnamon.

Preheat oven to 180 C /350 F.

The most delicious crust

• Soften 3/4 cup butter (cut in small cubes).

• Sift together 2 cups plain flour and 1/4 cup icing sugar.

• Mix butter into the flour mixture, until it crumbles. Use your hands or a pastry blending tool.

• Add 1/4 cup water and mix.

• Divide pastry in half and roll out two rounds on baking paper! This makes it easy to flip into your pie plate.

The filling

• Peel, core and slice 6 large - 8 small apples

• Layer apples on the crust.

• Sprinkle with 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon

• Add 2 tablespoons of butter, dotted on top of apples

• Cover with top crust, crimp edges.

Bake for around 50-60 minutes.

Pies are best when the apples are soft, so start checking your pie at 45 minutes. I poke a knife into the apples peeking through the ‘vents’ on the top crust. The apples should be soft when the pie is done.

That’s it!

Over to you, friends. And trust me: when there’s a family meeting on the cards, a home baked apple pie makes it so much better.

Enjoy your weekend. Have some fun (or some pie!), and be fun to live with!

Love, Catherine x

PS.

• Remember those excellent posture exercises? I’m still doing them.

• Some (realistic) beauty hacks for you.

• The set up from my library book talk last week…take a peek. Loved catching up with a few blog readers there, too!

Hey, happy weekend!

Hello there!

Today is our 3 year blog anniversary — I hope you’ve loved getting a little happiness every week for 156 Sundays in a row, without fail (whew!). I appreciate ALL of you! Welcome to the new people, and thank you for reading!

This week, it’s time to celebrate. My birthday’s on Thursday and I love getting wiser! May is always a good month for me and I’m so glad it’s nearly here.

Because here’s the truth: April has been hard. Can you relate?

For me, a major project has finished up — my book is out in the world — and I need to figure out what’s next. I’m not sure where I’m headed with my new writing project. I’m not sleeping that well. I’m working a lot more now, too (one day a week in the city, some work from home, plus other freelance projects). And winter is coming…

I’ve found myself in a tailspin, overthinking everything, feeling stuck. Worrying.

So here’s what I learned this month thanks to my American friend, Kristen — and I thought it might help you, too.

When times are tough, Kristen told me, here’s the best question to ask ourselves:

When life hands you lemons, what is the gift?

When your kid is in pain, what is the gift?

When you’ve been disappointed, what is the gift?

When you’re worried about something, what is the gift?

I should tattoo this on my wrist. It’s such a great question. It’s helped me so much this month as I get myself back on track.

If you’re feeling a little down, if something has happened, if you have a deep worry that you haven’t shared with anyone, I hope it helps you, too. What is the gift inside your problem?

Enjoy your weekend, everyone. Have some fun — and be fun to live with!

Love Catherine x

• Picture book writers — did you know about this e-book? It covers everything I learned about writing picture books and getting a book deal for Jacaranda Snow .

• On sale today only for 50% off to celebrate my blog-anniversary! Learn more.

• Want to write your novel or nonfiction book? My online class starts this week, 1 May. Learn more.

My New Happy Ring...

Hey there!

Today I needed a little bit of good news. I won’t share the details, but let me say this: I went through the wringer this week.

I was seriously upset, but in the end, I fixed things up again. It was hard and painful and please don’t for a moment ever think that I’m sitting here in Sydney, sailing through life, telling everyone else how to chill and have a good time. Not always true!

Our lives are the same, yours and mine. Some things are GREAT (yay! new book coming out!) and some things are SO HARD I want to cry (but I make it through).

When things go wrong, what do I do?

1. Walk a lot.

2. Feel my feelings (This is new. I used to eat my feelings, or stuff them down. Now I let them in, take a look, and try to deal openly with what’s happening.)

3. Ask myself the best question in the world. How is this working in my favour? (I wrote about that here! Read it if you’re struggling this week…)

What you’ll notice is that I’m not a “retail therapy” person. I don’t shop for entertainment or to feel better. But this week, I took a shortcut.

For me, when I look down at my hands and see a pretty ring, I feel SO GOOD. Here’s my find this week from Collette Hayman (not a sponsored blog post!). I love this ring. It’s exactly what I would have bought to make myself happy when I was ten years old. And it was $2 on sale.

The flower ring makes me think this: how much joy can we access if we shift our attention to what makes us feel good?

It costs almost nothing to find some joy.

Rings are symbols, of course, and they also work well when you want to feel better in an instant. Why? We always look at our hands. Think about it: it’s the only jewellery you get to see yourself wear.

So, it may be silly but it works: if you want a little instant happy, remember that you don’t need a real diamond. You don’t need to wait. You can think back to yourself as a ten year old girl, you can give her something fun, and you can make her happy.

I hope you enjoy today, I really do! Have some fun, and as always, be fun to live with!

I appreciate all of you SO MUCH, more than you know! Your emails this week made everything so much better.

Catherine x

PS.

• You guys! Love Lie Repeat is out in Australia in 15 days! You can buy it at all good independent bookshops, like Libby’s at Beachside, at Big W and Target, and all the big chain bookshops, too. And online at Booktopia and amazon Australia. Personally, I love to support Indie bookshops!

• If you’re overseas, order here with free postage worldwide. I appreciate you SO MUCH! (We haven’t yet signed an overseas book deal, so this is the only way you can get Love Lie Repeat. The price is AWESOME.)

• And here’s a shout-out to Alicia in America — a sweet friend of mine — who launched Dorset and Pond. So pretty.
  

There's Something I Haven't Told You...

Hi, everyone!

It’s time to let you in on some exciting news.

Eighteen months ago, I signed a book deal with Penguin Random House. It’s been my dream to write a novel since I was a little girl, and finally, in the middle of my life, I decided it was time to step out and try.

LOVE LIE REPEAT hits bookshops in 8 weeks — March 5th! (Available overseas via book depository & amazon kindle)

What’s my book about?

I’m intrigued by strong women, and I wanted to write about beauty and power. (A long time ago, I wrote my Master’s thesis on Feminine Vitality in the stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.)

LOVE LIE REPEAT is about mothers and daughters, the pressure to be perfect, and why we hurt the people we love. It’s set in the upper north shore of Sydney, full of private schools and privilege, opportunity and competition, love and disappointment…and what that does to women and girls.

People are saying it’s “lush and chilling” .… “gorgeous and biting” ,.. “powerful and shocking and completely unputdownable.”

I hope you think so, too!

A publisher at Penguin said, “LOVE LIE REPEAT is your love song to Sydney.” It’s also my love song to the Pacific Northwest, where I used to live. And it’s a tribute to Margaret Atwood, whose poem ‘Siren Song’ inspired the book.

We’re all more than we seem…

You’ve known me as a happiness blogger and a children’s author; some of you know me as a teacher and book coach for my online class, How To Write Your Book This Year.

But like you, I’m more. I’m also a writer of juicy family dramas, thrillers with the twists & without the gore — psychological suspense novels. I write about beauty, power, deceit and redemption. And I do it all on my patio, with my laptop and my dog and a good cup of coffee.

So how does this relate to you?

If I can move toward my dream in the middle of my life, so can you. I want to be an example of what’s possible for all of us, especially if we remember this:

Thanks so very much for sharing in my good news! All writers need fabulous readers, and I’m so grateful for your encouragement and support.

Happy Sunday! I hope you find a way to take the first step towards making your dreams come true.

Love Catherine x

PS.

• Pre-orders help authors so much! It means publishers know how popular a book will be. You’ll get your copy of LOVE LIE REPEAT in just 8 weeks, March 5th. Preorder here on book depository for worldwide delivery, here on booktopia, here on amazon in Australia, here on amazon Kindle. Thank you so much for your support!

• Want to write your own book this year? It’s not too late to join my online class. Fabulous students — all beginners. You’re so welcome! I can send you the replay for our first class; there’s four to come. Learn more.

The Lively Show

So. Much. Fun!

It was a big week -- that's why I'm sending you two blog posts (with love).

I had the chance to join podcaster Jess Lively on The Lively Show to talk about an online course Jess teaches, Flow With Intention Online. At it's heart, it's a class about optimism and flowing downstream rather than struggling up. (I've written about that idea here and here.)

Jess Lively is this amazing American world-traveller, podcaster and entrepreneur. She inspires and teaches, and she also generously donates funds to build schools for kids in developing countries with Pencils of Promise. She's interviewed so many of my heroes, like Liz Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love and Big Magic) and Brene Brown (author of Daring Greatly). Jess is very expansive in her thinking -- she loves science and some out-there stuff -- and I love that she's all about helping people live with more joy.

Click here to listen to me talk about my new book deal & Jess' online class...fun-spiration from us to you!

Happy weekend, everyone. 

Catherine x

PS. There are also many, many other fabulous interviews with Jess and a range of lovely people, celebrities, thought leaders and entrepreneurs at jesslively.com.